Twitch bans streaming Adults-Only games prior to Hatred's launch [Update]

Twitch has announced it will no longer allow users to stream Adults-Only-rated games on its platform.

In a rules of conduct update regarding adult-oriented games, Twitch says its users “should not broadcast” games rated Adults Only by the ESRB, although Mature versions of these games are allowed to be streamed. For example, the Mature versions of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy are allowed. Games that are rated 18+ by similar rating systems in other countries are acceptable.

This change comes on the eve of Hatred’s release, and is mentioned by name in the updated list of prohibited titles. It is an extremely violent game where its protagonist kills anyone and everyone, regardless if they’re good or bad. Hatred has caused quite a bit of controversy since its initial announcement, and now that Twitch is banning Adults Only games from being streamed, we could only guess it’s so Hatred’s influence can't be spread outside of those who are really interested in playing it.

We have reached out to Twitch to see if they have further comments regarding this change in policy, especially so close to Hatred's release.

[Update: A Twitch representative responded to us with the following statement: "The decision was made to bring more clarity to our Rules of Conduct. Generally, games that fall in the AO-rated spectrum have always been out of bounds on Twitch due to the standard language of both the RoC and ToS. Instead of dealing with this on a per-game basis, we wanted to make a very clear standard rule set."]

Twitch bans streaming Adults-Only games prior to Hatred's launch [Update]